Seven reasons to watch In The Flesh season 2

Hands up all of those who saw series one of In the Flesh on BBC Three last year. Not many of you. Right. Well, here’s what you’re missing, and why you should catch up pronto, before series two begins on Sunday May 4.

It’s about zombies

Everyone loves zombies!

British zombies!

Americans get to have all the fun, blasting zombies with shotguns and hiding in malls, but you get the sense that Britain would deal with a zombie apocalypse in a very different way. And writer Dominic Mitchell captures that perfectly with In the Flesh.

The NHS steps in to cure the zombies, and then reintegrates these Partially Deceased Syndrome sufferers back into an unready society because they lack the budget to house them.

Yep, that’s how the zombie apocalypse would go down in the UK – with quiet intolerance and budget cuts.

(Picture: BBC)

It’s horribly realistic

This all just seems so much more plausible than The Walking Dead. Look at your neighbours. Who among them would be welcoming towards the cured zombies who months earlier were chowing down on their loved ones? And how many of them would grab a pick-axe and go on a zombie hunt, regardless of whether they’re supposedly ‘cured’?

It helps that the grey palate, ugly jumpers and crap weather grounds the show in a ‘grim oop north’ tone, making it essentially a slice of working class realism. With zombies.

It won a BAFTA!

Last week the previously unknown Dominic Mitchell picked up the Best Drama Writer BAFTA for In the Flesh series one. Miss out, and you’re missing the birth-cries of Britain’s next big writing talent.

(Picture: BBC)

The cast are great

Most of the cast are either unknowns, or people whose face you recognise but can’t quite place. Oh, and Ricky Tomlinson.

That said, they are brilliant. In particular, Emily Bevan as PDS-sufferer Amy, who refuses to be ashamed of her condition, and Luke Newberry as Kieren, the meek, unassuming former-zombie who just wants to make things as easy on his family as possible – even if that means hiding in cupboards when the neighbours pop round.

The mysteries

Series one, with only three episodes to work with, very much stuck to Kieren’s story, and life in his village of Roarton. But certain elements seeded in in series one will have room to breathe in the six-episode series two.

(Picture: BBC)

An anti-PDS political party are on the rise, while the mysterious Undead Prophet is conducting extremist attacks. Mitchell promises fans that Roarton will find itself at the heart of the political conflict, and perhaps even of the zombie outbreak itself. Might we even see that ‘second rising’ that was talked about in series one?

You can still catch up!

Series one is currently on iPlayer. I strongly suggest that you invest three well-spent hours of your time on it.

In the Flesh series two starts on BBC Three at 10pm on Sunday 4th May.

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